IN THE first meeting of its kind, Orangemen are travelling to Dublin tomorrow to see if the Government has any room for them in the 1798 bicentennial commemorations, which are planned for next year.
Today's Orangemen include in their ranks many descendants of those who took part, as yeomanry, in the suppression of the rebellion. But the descendants of some who fought with the `98 rebels also found their way into the order.
"We are meeting and talking because it is a shared heritage," says Ms Avril Doyle, the Minister of State for Finance, and chairwoman of the National 1798 Bicentennial Committee.
Coming to discuss a possible renewed alliance of Protestant, Catholic and Dissenter is Mr Brian Kennaway, head of the Orange Order's education committee, who wrote to the Minister to see if the commemorations were "a solely southern thing".
Mr Kennaway sought to find out from Ms Doyle if she "realised there was an Orange input" into 1798, and she hastily replied with an invitation to lunch.
"I would have thought it would help to build bridges if it was recognised that the Orange Order, which came into being in 1795 and was formed into a Grand Lodge in 1798, was made up of yeomanry that put down the rebellion," he said. "The Orange Order was against the rebels."
But the passage of time brought some of the descendants of the defeated rebels into the Orange ranks and "now the strands go back to both sides" in the rebellion. "It is said that the children of the men of 1798 became the leaders of the Orange Order in the next generation," says Mr Kennaway.
The order would be "happy" to be involved in the ceremonies (he is glad they are to be called "commemorations" rather than "celebrations") particularly those held in remembrance of Protestants slain at Wexford Bridge and Scullabogue during the rebellion.
The Minister is going to listen to what Mr Kennaway has to say but stresses the programme of events is not finished. We do not agree on everything but there is an awful lot on which we can agree," said Ms Doyle.
One of the events will be the reconstitution of the Wexford Senate in remembrance of the three week Republic of Wexford declared during the Rising. It's not clear if Mr Kennaway would like to become a senator in the assembly he can buy a seat there for £2,000.
Meanwhile, the Orange Order has called for a statue of King William III to be re-erected in the centre of Dublin to commemorate the organisation's 200th anniversary. They also want a plaque at, 52 Dawson Street, where the order held its first meeting on April 9th, 1798.
The order has written to Dublin Corporation to call on it to replace the horseback bronze statue, erected in 1701 and blown up by republicans in 1928. It was at the junction of Dame Street and Trinity Street, opposite the Bank of Ireland.